Rensselaer County Sheriff's Department Officer Salvatore Greco knocks on the residence of registered sex offender Rick B. Carey's in the Town of Brunswick late Wednesday afternoon as part of "Operation Halloween." (Mike McMahon / The Record)

Late Wednesday afternoon, Sergeant Shane Holcomb and Officer Salvatore Greco with the Rensselaer County Sheriffs' Office pulled down the worn wooded driveway on Town Office Rd.

They were on their way to check on Rick Carey, a 57-year-old sex offender who sexually abused a 6-year-old girl in January of 1996, and was convicted of attempted sodomy in the first-degree.

The stop was part of "Operation Halloween," in which law enforcement officers in counties across the state check on sexual offenders. In Rensselaer County, the Troy police department, parole officers, and the Sheriffs' Office took part, checking on the county's registered offenders.

Wednesday afternoon, the officers stopped their car and stepped out in front of an Airstream travel trailer. After knocking and receiving no answer, the officers headed down to a woodlot behind the trailer.

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There, they found Carey, who has a large dappled white beard, loading a wood chopper. When he saw the officers, he came over.

"Same address, same employer?" asked Holcomb.

"Yes."

"Any vehicles sold?"

"Nope."

"Any Internet service?"

"Nope."

The sergeant was checking to make sure Carey was not in violation of any of his court orders.

Level three offenders, those with a high risk of re-offending, are required to report to the Sheriffs' Office every 90 days to update their address, employment, and vehicle information, as well as answer any questions relating to information specific to their offense, which could include their Internet use or whether they have been drinking or using drugs. Level two offenders must report every two years with the same information.

The Sheriffs' Office maintains a database of information relating to each offender. The registry for the county is checked daily, and offenders must update their information in a timely manner or risk being charged with a felony violation.

While partly an effort to inform the public that the officers are out and about on Halloween, the visits also provide officers an opportunity to check if offenders are in violation of Halloween restrictions.

In New York, sex offenders, whether on parole, probation, or otherwise, are not allowed to wear costumes or masks, visit corn mazes or haunted houses, decorate their home with Halloween paraphernalia, open their door to trick-or-treaters, or engage in any holiday activity.

Furthermore, under a New York law known as "Halloween: Zero Tolerance," officers can make unannounced phone calls, curfew checks, or home visits.

The visit with Carey had the feel of the mundane. Once every six months, officers will visit offenders' residences to verify they are indeed living where they claim to be.

"We're out at least a couple of times a week," Holcomb said, and Carey is used to the visits, and the routine. He was expecting the questions, and so the stop was over quickly, as it needed to be--the officers had many more addresses to check across the county's 660 square miles before their night would be over.

Fortunately for Holcomb and Greco, the Sheriffs' Office would not be checking all 89 offenders it actively monitors, only the addresses of 43 offenders who committed crimes against persons under the age of 16. They began checking addresses around noon, and would go until 9 p.m., with the hope that they might make at least one arrest.

Previously, the Sheriffs' Office had found one offender's home vacant, and learned the offender had failed to notify the Division of Criminal Justice Services of an address change, a violation of court order. Later, they received a tip about the offender's new residence, and were hoping to arrest and charge that offender.

Officer Greco said some sex offenders, especially level two and three offenders, are known to sometimes provide false addresses, or purposely fail to update, and Halloween night is an optimal time to check on them, because they can not only check the standard information, but also verify the offenders are not in violation of Halloween restrictions.

A link to the state's Sex Offender Registry, maintained by the state Department of Criminal Justice Services, allows the public to view information on level two and three sex offenders.